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Study and Discussion QuestionsKey Terms

For Further Reading

Suggested Websites

Notes

Orthodoxy, and other so-called world religionthat were complicit with colonialist expansioand its repression o the other peoples (indienous), their rites and belies. For centuriecolonial societies have denied that indigenoupeoples had religions at all; as the great phtographer o Native North American culturEdward S. Curtis stated, Tere seems to be

broadly prevalent idea that the Indians lackea religion. . . . Rather than being without religion, every act o his lie was according divine prompting.

Te diculties in discussing indigenoreligious traditions also lie in the act tha

Introduction

Te category indigenous religions o theworld merits an encyclopedia all its own. For,as many tribal peoples as there are in the worldtoday, each has its own set o belies and ritesthat relate humans and all other living beingsto the ultimate sources o lie. Insoar as pos-sible, this chapter will present a tip-o-the-iceberg sort o perspective on the common

concerns expressed in these traditions. I preerto use the terms indigenous religious traditionsand not indigenous religions because the termreligion by itsel has a colonial connotation ormany indigenous peoples, which refects theirhistorical relations with Christianity, Russian

chapter 1

Indigenous Religious

TraditionsRobin M. Wright


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system o meanings regarding what they believeto be the ultimate reality.

Similarly, while scholars can nd relativeagreement in meaning among the ollowerso a single world religion or notions such assoul, the aterlie, the personwith indig-

enous religious traditions, there is such a diver-sity o perspectives that, although it is possibleto speak in general terms about some aspects othese notions, there are nevertheless wide varia-tions in the ways each o them is understood.Indigenous religious traditions, in short, arecharacterized byheterodoxyin contrast with theorthodoxy o the world religions. Tere is no seto unique eatures characterizing all indigenous

religious worldviews. For the purpose o under-standing some o their similarities and dier-ences with the so-called world religions, we willexplore the belies and practices in a variety oindigenous traditions, but without making anyclaims to universalities.

unlike the world religions, which have a cen-ter o aith, a body o orthodox doctrine (witha multitude o local traditions), a relatively uni-ed politics, a meta-narrative, and a corpus otheological texts to which both scholars andlaypeople can reer, indigenous religious tra-

ditions can only be characterized by diversityrecognizing that each people (or tribe ornation) has a unique vision o how the uni-verse came into being, is structured, shapespeoples behaviors in lie, and can undergo peri-ods o total collapse ollowed by regeneration.Tose visions are communicated and trans-mitted mainly through oral narratives or per-ormative remembering o primordial acts in

collective ceremonies. No single set o eaturescan be applied to the creator deities o indige-nous peoples, nor do indigenous peoples neces-sarily understand the unction o creating inthe same way as non-indigenous peoples, sinceeach indigenous culture has elaborated its own

Fi. 1.1 Kakakaak

(Kak) pa

a a

p y e. s. c.


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continuity o the order established in primodial times, through the ritual means bestoweon humans in the primordial past.

Indigenous peoples have traditionalsought to orge their ways o lie in consonanwith all other orms o lie in their natural su

roundings. Tis has proound consequences understanding their spiritualities. Firstly, all lie is conceived in terms o innumerable shorand long-term cycles, rom the short cycles fowering plants and the alternation o day annight to the longer cycles o human lie, thlie o social units, to the longest cycle o athe cosmos, whichlike human lieis borgrows old, transorms to the spirit world, anregenerates in a new cycle. Concepts o huma

lie cycles are thus modeled on other lie cyclo the world around them and the larger comos in which their world is situated. From thtime children begin to become aware o thways o the world, they are taught to be moally responsible or respecting and maintaininthese cycles.

Te extent to which indigenous religiotraditions have developed calendric modo time passage, the cycles sometimes can bextraordinarily longor example, the Mayand Aztec o Central America are celebrateor having developed long count calendarthat last tens o thousands o years, startinrom the calculated date o creation to a oreseen end-time, ollowed by the regeneratioo lie. It is remarkable how indigenous culturthe world over celebrate cosmos-generating riuals with such calendric precision that the rel

gious specialists guard and transmit the timo long-cycle transitions over many generation(e.g., the new re ceremony o the Aztecs, ceebrated every ty-two years; or the Sigi ceemony among the Dogon o Mali, which acelebrated in cycles o sixty years).

Some Common Elements inIndigenous Religious Traditions

On the most general level, native traditionsshare one or more o the ollowing eatures in

their worldviews, or orientations to ultimate real-ity: (1) Tey attribute enormous importanceto ancestral lands, sacred geography, and localsacred sites, which are seen as portals to the pri-mordial past through which people can receivethe original lie-orce o their own deities orancestors. (2) Access to sacred knowledge isgained by those who have undergone the trialsand privations o initiation or are apprenticesto the religious specialists. (3) Great value is

invested in kinship obligations (consanguin-eal and anal) and their ulllment, whichare considered to be the arena o harmony andconfict, as well as key eatures in native peo-ples orientations to ultimate reality. (4) Tesacred traditions are transmitted principallyby oral and perormative means, through nar-ratives about prior worlds, when communica-tions between humans and other-than-humanbeings (animals, spirits, deities) were normal.(5) Tey emphasize demonstrations o gener-osity, giving thanks to the creators or the gito lie and abundance, showing humility andrejection o displays o individual power andarrogance, seeking to abide by the ways othe ancestors, and being respectul to animalsor other nonhuman beings. (6) Tey recognizethe sacred powers o the spirits and deities andtheir material embodiment and emplacement

in this world. Tese powers can be overwhelm-ingdangerously mixed blessings that impartto humanity special knowledgeor they can beocused in benevolent, caring, strong leadershipthat guides humans through their lie crises.(7) Tey share responsibility in ensuring the


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is called animism. All beings in nature are ani-mate, exercise intention (hunting, making shel-ters, perorming rituals); however, the bodieso nonhuman beings (birds, sh, trees, stones)dier rom humans and amongst themselves.Consequently, their perceptions o, and per-

spectives on, the lie around them, their rela-tions to other kinds o beings, and their senseso time and space vary. While many indigenouspeoples believe that distinct kinds o beings mayshare similar cultural patterns, the perceptionso these other peoples own worldswhichare biologically, historically, and culturally situ-atedin turn shape the ways they understandand relate to each other. So, according to thestories, a human may see a vulture (o the vul-

ture people, considered to be a potentiallytreacherous tribe) eating grubs rom a rotten logon the ground, but rom the vultures point oview, it is actually catching live sh rom a poolo water. Te vulture, rom its perspective, seesas living ood what humans see as rot; the rot othe vulture in turn can ruin the corporeal beautyo human beings, making what was once beau-tiul become ugly with an abominable stench.

Shamans are prime examples o what itmeans to have a multi-perspectival point o viewo the worlds that constitute the cosmos sincethey have been schooled in the mastery o theknowledge and powers o the other peoples inorder to communicate with them. When a sha-mans soul transorms into a jaguar, to the out-side observer, it may look like he is snung ordrinking a psychoactive, but rom the shaman-jaguars point o view, he is actually drinking

the blood o a deity, that is, incorporating itslie-orce, which enables the shamans soul totransorm into an other kind o being, a jaguarspirit, and fy into the other world o the deities.

Tirdly, indigenous peoples worldviewsare in general highly transormational, that is,

Dogon mask dance. Tey are actors ina cosmic theater, aiming to re-create the

creation o the world, o men, o vegetableand animal species, and o the stars. Whatis happening is that this period o dangerand disorder that has been brought aboutby death is now brought to an end by theevocation o the undamental moments inthe genesis o the universe. Te audience,enthusiastic but solemn, watches with greatattention the development o the dierentstages in the ritual.

Secondly, humans are one among manykinds o animate beings who share in lie-orces, or souls, and whose ways o lie orcultures are believed to be very similar. Tebelie that all beings possess one or more souls

Fi. 1.2 d mak, Ma, Aa.


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the item being exchanged. Tus external, matrial orms, on bodies, cover spiritual ormFurthermore, external bodily orms are oteadorned and painted, indicating some vitquality o their inner selves.

Such religious acts as worshiping a deit

nding a lost soul, changing rom one another orm o lie, and intermixing o divinand human worlds are not only perectly possble in these traditions but are also much desireA person cannot become ully human with aadult identity, or example, until he or she hbeen introduced ace-to-ace with the sacreother peoples in initiatory experiences. Tmay have been the oundation or the monumental cave paintings ound at Lascaux,

example, places where initiates were presenteto the ull power o the sacred other hiddewithin the depths o the earth.

Sacred narratives oten explain dierencbetween the perspectives o native and nonnative peoples to be the result o separationthat occurred at the end o the primordial agAt that time, non-native peoples were givecertain kinds o knowledge and native peoplwere instructed to live in the knowledge o theancestors, which new generations o adulshould reproduce.

Fourthly, natural orms o symmetry anasymmetry gure prominently in native representations o lierom the weaving o tapestries with designs that recall both naturand historical orms to the building o housmodeled on the structure o the cosmos. Socirelations are also ideally based on symmetry

as, or example, in reciprocal trade relations marriagealthough asymmetric orms sucas social inequalities emerge rom dierentiaccess to and ownership o sacred power.

Societies with peoples not considered be ully human by other societies (general

one type o being may transorm into another(animal into human or human to spirit, andvice versa). In primordial times, these transor-mations occurred very requently because theboundaries o time, space, sel, and other wereas yet porous and indistinguishable. oday, pri-

marily religious specialists (shamans, especially)are adept at soul transormation, while normalhuman beings souls are believed to undergotransormation mainly during moments oritually dened lie passage. Only in certaincontexts can nonhuman, spirit beings actuallytransorm into humans; the vast majority o theother spirit beings retain their unique, visible,material orm (as plants or animals), coveringtheir invisible (except to shamans) orms or

selves. I an exchange occurs between beingso dierent worlds, a transormation occurs in

Fi. 1.3 n-y a mak m a a

t sa, Aaa.


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actions o primordial beings and deities whomade or transormed the eatures o this world,and let them or humans to care or and min-ister to their creations. Stated another way, theprimordial beings let evidence o their pres-ence in the marvelous orms o creation o

this world (or example, Devils ower in theBlack Hills, considered to be a sacred placeor many native peoples o the Plains). Eacho these creations has its own sacred time andspace; humans are entrusted with the respon-sibility o caring or, preserving, and respect-ing what the primordial beings had made. Tedeities let material representations o theirbodies in the earth, along with sacred symbolsor humans to use in ceremonies in order to

remember and renew their connections withthe divinities.

One o the great dilemmas in nativethought is how a world in which there is con-stant change developed rom a primordial con-dition o innite space and unchanging time.How can a way o lie be perpetuated or alltimes despite constant changes that threatenorder with chaos? How can human lie, with allits limitations, transcend the trials o death anddecay? Te most important way is re-member-ing primordial acts and events through ritualsthat prominently eature sacred symbols associ-ated with the bodies o the deities. Te sacredis in some way always and everywhere presentin contemporary lie as long as humansespe-cially the knowledgeable elders, priests, holypeople, or shamanscontinue to guard, keep,and minister to the sacred in this world. Te

major world religions, by contrast, require loy-alty to hierarchical structures, centralization oreligious authority, and constant renewal o thehistorical ounders original acts enshrined orall to worship, where spiritual governance hasbecome hegemonic in its power.

based on cosmology and creation narratives,but also captives o war) have oten been usedin exchange relations or to labor or their supe-riors. Captives o war, or example, were some-times incorporated into the societies o theircaptors as domestic servants or laborers. Tisinequality does not necessarily imply the kindo chattel slavery as understood by the West.Although hierarchical relations o dominanceand submission have certainly been docu-mented in many historical indigenous societieso the world, the relations o master or owner

can rather reer to relations o symbiosis, com-plementarity, authority, and obedience on themodel o parental relations to children, or own-ers to their domesticated pets.

Fithly, indigenous peoples believe alllie to have come into existence through the

Fi. 1.4 sp m P, pma

pay a uvy b cma' Mm

Apy, Vav, caaa.


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We Are from the Forest, Earth,and Air: Universal Knowledge

Te ollowing speech was presented by Barasana shaman, ukanoan-speaking indienous people rom the Northwest Amazo

in Colombia, to accompany the lm radtional Knowledge o the Jaguar-Shamans the Yurupar radition. Tis tradition wocially included in 2011 by UNESCO in iRepresentative List o the Intangible CulturHeritage o Humanity.1 Centuries ago, all the indigenous cultures o the Northwest Amzon region and upper Orinoco had traditionsimilar to the one presented here. Ater sever

centuries o historical contact, the reductioin the indigenous populations due to diseaseenslavement, and rubber-gathering, along wiCatholic and Protestant missionary repressioo the tradition on the basis o a alse assocition with the Christian devil, has meant th

Sixthly, native religious thought can beprooundly dualistic. All o existence can bedivided into a series o interlocking, comple-mentary oppositions, producing a whole (simi-lar to the principles o yin and yang in Chineseaoism). Lie and death, emale and male, har-mony and disharmony, sel and other producedynamics that play themselves out on the stageo lie in history, as they do in any culture. Innon-christianized, indigenous religious tradi-tions, however, notions o good and evil arenot understood in terms o a struggle romwhich there will nally emerge a victor; rather,the enemy other is actually seen as necessaryor the existence o collective sel-identity. Sor-cery, while discouraged and eared, is as much

a part o tribal spiritual lie as the harmoniousjoy o celebrating and dancing with ones ownkin and allies rom other tribes. Further, sorcerymay be seen as a necessary societal mechanismor limiting the abuses o power or to redressperceived wrongs.

Fi. 1.5 A

A damm

caava g,

Aaa.


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Each group has its own way o takingcare o the world.

Its own way o carrying out healing,But we all share the same system or taking

care o the world.. . .

Knowledge is made up o physical and spir-itual elements. Tere are elements thatenable thought to continue,

Such as the yaj vine.Te Yurupar plumageAnd the Maloca [longhouse] which is a

physical representation o the cosmos;With each o its divisions symbolizing the

most important sites o the territoryAnd is the center o knowledge or taking

care o the territory,According to the seasons o the ecological

and cultural calendar.Tere is also coca and tobacco,Coca is a very valuable element or the con-

tinuity o knowledge;

this traditionwhich is based on a prooundunderstanding o the sources o vital energyin the cosmosremains alive only among aew communities. For that reason, the Barasanapeople sought to protect the traditions romdisappearing altogether by seeking UNESCO

recognition as a vital heritage. Similarly, theirneighbors o the Arawak language amily havegained international recognition or their jag-uar-shamans knowledge o Yurupar.

As the ollowing statement shows, theYurupar tradition speaks to issues o culturalcontinuity and spiritual links with the entirehabitat, and is an embodied and emplaced spir-ituality (see gures 1.69 below):

Traditional Knowledge of the Jaguar-Shamans of Yurupar

(spoken by Maximiliano Garcia, Makunao the Northwest Amazon, Colombia;translation by the author)

We are rom the orest, the earth, rom theair itsel;

We come rom the Ancestral Anaconda,Historically we have protected the envi-

ronment. We are like Guardians, theProtectors o Nature. We are owners ouniversal knowledge!

We are rom the Pira-paran River,erritory o the Jaguars o YuruparOur ancestors travelled rom the lower part

o the Apaporis River,Entering the Caquet River, then crossing

over the Apaporis River.Going to the headwaters o the Apaporis

River,And entering the Pira-paran until reach-

ing its headwaters.We are the many dierent ethnic groups

living there with dierent languages. Fi. 1.6 Ypa jaa ama.


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It is here that the system o organizethought

And sel-governance are concentrated.Tey are sites where energy fows an

which gives lie to the rest o nature.

raditional knowledge is refected in thdaily activities o the women,

It is a knowledge they have acquired ovmillennia or preparing ood.

For carrying out rituals, or caring or thamily.

For health and or the transer o thknowledge

Our knowledge is a holistic systemTat is not concentrated only in the shamaOr in specic people.. . .We want to conserve this knowledgeBecause it is our lie.It is the knowledge o the orest.

For the continuation o knowledge thatenables learning.

Because coca is thought,It is a means that enables us to understand

things better.

Tat enables us to have an appropriate andhealthy system o human behavior.

obacco is the very essence o lie,It is like the sensitivity that exists within a

human body.Which enables us to understand better, to

accept things with wisdom.Just as we have vital organs or the unc-

tioning o our bodies,So the territory has its vital organs.Its vital organs are the sacred sitesFound in rivers, hills, lakes, or stones.In these places, there is knowledge.Tere is wisdom,Tere is understanding and power.

Fi. 1.7 da Papp, Amaz.


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heritage o the many ethnic groups living alongthe Pir Paran River in southeastern Colom-bia, in the department o Vaups. According toancestral wisdom, the Pir Paran orms theheart o a large area called the territory o the

jaguars o Yurupar, the jaguars being the jag-uar-shamans, an elite group o highly trainedand knowledgeable specialists who guard theancient knowledge o the cosmos. Tey under-stand that the cosmos is a living being withsources o energy, just as the human body hasits own sources o energy that make the lieorce (blood) fow throughout the system. Inother words, the sacred sites contain vital spiri-

tual energy that nurtures all living beings in theworld.Te jaguar-shamans ollow a calendar o

ceremonial rituals, based on their sacred tra-ditional knowledge, to draw the communitytogether, heal, prevent sickness, and revitalize

And with this we want to guarantee lie orall people on this earth.

Te continuity o the knowledge, othought, the power to care or theterritory,

Tis is the model or livingTat we have maintained or a long time.It is the model let to us by our ancestorsAnd this is what we want to preserve.It is a model that can helpWith intercultural tools,For solving the global environmental crisis.

Maintaining Life and Health

through Ritual

Te mythical and cosmological structures thatmake up the traditional knowledge o the jag-uar-shamans o Yurupar represent the cultural

Fi. 1.8 hpaa, a aa a mak pa pp Amaz.


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created at sacred places, which are conceived today as the vital organs o the ounding ancetor o the tradition.

Among the Kogi peoples, a priestly socieo the Sierra Nevada o northern Colombithe mamapriests likewise have a deep know

edge o the dynamics o nature in the univesal sense, known as the law oAluma, or thGreat Mother. Changes in the environmental cycles due to global warming prompteKogi priests in 1995 and 2012 to issue Warning to the Younger Brother in the oro two BBC lms, explaining how the ways lie o the white man younger brothers abringing on the destruction o the planet. Tpriests message urges that something be don

immediately beore the world is completedestroyed.

nature. Te rituals eature songs and dancesthat constitute the healing process. Te vitalenergy and traditional knowledge o the sha-mans are believed to be inherited rom a pow-erul, mythical demiurge called Yurupar,which, among the Barasana, was an anacondathat lived as a person and is today embodied invery sacred trumpets that are made rom a palmtree, which altogether make up the body partso the Anaconda Ancestor. Each ethnic group

conserves its own Yurupar trumpets, whichorm the centerpiece in the most sacred HeeBiki (Grandather Anaconda) ritual. Duringthis ritual, traditional guidelines or maintain-ing the health o the people and the territoryare transmitted to male children as a part otheir passage into adulthood. Te traditionalknowledge concerning care o children, preg-nant women, and ood preparation is transmit-ted among women. In short, in the NorthwestAmazon, indigenous peoples heritages areembodied in the sacred instruments, which arethe vehicle that enables the young initiates togrow and understand the world, and to live ahealthy lie. Tey were, in ukanoan tradition,

Fi. 1.9 Jaa ma, ca , a a

ea (1500300 bce).

Fi. 1.10 nav Ama m a ia, a

ay .


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great deal o harm to the indigenous peoplesand their culture.

Tose non-indigenous societies, assuminga constantly expanding rontier and exhibit-ing an unrelenting drive to settle and developsupposedly unoccupied lands, have paid littleattentionuntil very recentlyto the long-term uture o environmental eects on thepopulations o humans and nonhumans whosepredecessors actually have lived on those landsor thousands o years. With ew exceptions, allo these actors have radically changed nativepeoples relations to their ancestral homelands

and consequently put in question the viabilityo maintaining their ceremonies and tradi-tions. By ar the greatest struggle that indig-enous peoples throughout the world haveconronted over centuries o contact with exog-enous, invading societies has been the latters

Contact, Displacement,Prophecy: Indigenous Religious

Traditions over Time

Ater centuries o contact, ewi anyindig-enous peoples can be said to be living thesame religious traditions as their ancestors oour or ve centuries ago. With regard to theimportance o ancestral lands, historical changehas been most dramatic in countries such asthe United States, where the policy o orcedremoval rom ancestral lands and relocation to

government-designated reservations or board-ing schools dramatically changed Native peo-ples lieways and religious traditions, orcingmany o the elder religious specialists to seekalternative ways o guarding the traditions. Notall were successul, and these changes caused a

Fi. 1.11 eay -y ca m a na, Ma.


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Arica, and Melanesia), the phenomenon prophet movements characterized early contact histories, in which visionaries and relgious savants proclaimed the imminence onew order, ollowing a period o transition which the invading societies would either b

eliminated or be orced to assume a subordnate position. Tese prophesied utopian ordeoten celebrate the coming o a religious regimo world transcendence, negating the realio death as well as the military power o thoutsiders.

Prophets have ullled numerous othunctions. Prominent among these has beetheir leadership in rebellions against colonial oppression, utilizing ideologies grounde

in mythological themes o world destructioand renewal. Tey initiate what in many caseventually became historical traditions o relgious resistance; their movements cannot wiany justice be considered as passing reactioto domination. Teir views o the cominend-times oer distinctly spiritual solutioo transormation that cannot be understoosolely through social-scientic explanationo such phenomena in political, economic, military terms.

Features that have been common to prophmovements rom early colonial times to thpresent day include political and economdisplacement; the expectation o an imminecatastrophe and the reinstallation o a pardisiacal state; the awaiting o a salvic gurwho helps people out o the path o destructiorom the whites; the total suspension o norm

living routines; rejection or eager acceptance oreign clothes, goods, or oods; ceaseless daning and unbroken estival perormances as sigo admission into the envisioned utopia; dreamand visions; miraculous abundance o ood; thincarnation o gods in material or human orm

drive to homogenize land and people, againstthe undamental principles o cultural diversitythat have dened native cultures or millennia.Nevertheless, in recent years, with the increas-ing recognition o indigenous peoples culturalrights by international institutions, many native

peoples have seen this moment as a welcomeopportunity to establish protective guaran-tees or their cultures and religious traditions.By the same token, sometimes these so-calledrevitalization movements have been politicallydriven to acquire external unding, which isultimately used to re-signiy and update tradi-tional culture.

Among indigenous societies in manyregions o the world (especially the Americas,

Fi. 1.12 w a -y av

ava, Kamk, a baa pp.


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one, external, reerring to the disorganizing andde-structuring eects o contacts with nonna-tive societies. Such disorganization requentlymaniests itsel as a rise in accusations o witch-crat and sorcery, demonstrating the uneaseand the threats to traditional ways o lie by the

advance o Western civilization and the trans-ormations it brings. Conversion oers moralreorm, which enables native peoples to controlthe witchcrat and regain their integrity vis--vis intruders. Te other problem is internal,having to do with dilemmas inherent to cos-mologies and inherited rom primordial times;or example, the ontological status o anal(in-law, outsider, other) groups and theirperceived threat to the continuity o consan-

guineal or descent kin groups; the challenges oharnessing dangerous shamanic power or the

the prominence o celestial powers; the rever-sion o the transormed earth to native control;arduous restrictions on believers; and the trans-ormation o the believers bodies into healthy,invulnerable, or even immortal beings.

Historical prophet movements have oten

been marked by the ways in which native peo-ples have appropriated Christian symbols, prac-tices, and representations o authority, otenindependently o any kind o missionary inter-erence. Christian missionaries, or their part,have oten been surprised by the manner inwhich native peoples have converted en masseto the religions they have introducedsome-times with the same enthusiasm with whichthey have ollowed prophetic leaders. Conver-

sion movements can be interpreted as solutionsto two kinds o issues aced by native societies:

Fi. 1.13 eav a -y n ea may pa a kk v haa.


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o relating how they made the world ready peoples (in the broadest sense o the termpeple), later withdraw rom creation leaving utugenerations to take care o the new worlTe divine beings are sel-generated and selgenerating principles that set the universe

motion. Tey hold within themselves the duaity o being and becoming, maniesting themselves as specic phenomenal beings (the sumoon, animals, etc.), although, in so doing, thdo not lose their original nature o constabecoming or intentionality.

In other cases, creation occurs through thtransormations initiated by primordial beinrom some preexisting state or condition toradically other state, which is then transmitte

or all uture generations. Countless narrativarm the existence o other worlds that prexisted the current one; each is imperect ansuers catastrophic destruction by food, rother natural disasters, putreaction, or petriation. From this destruction, a variety o symboappear, which then serve as vehicles througwhich the order created can be reproduced annew worlds brought into being.

Tus, in the sacred text o the QuichMaya, called Popol Vuh (Book o Counsel), thrst humans were mudmen who had no posibility o sustaining liethey were simply disolved. Te second was a race o beings mado wood, which again did not satisy the goand was destroyed by a food. A third, a race humans was excessively vain and also did nsatisy the gods because the humans could slike the gods and tried to be like them. So th

gods threw dust in their eyes and made theshort-sighted; these rst men and women wethen made to praise and give thanks to the deties as well as to populate the earth.

Native peoples imagine the primodial times as epochs when all was possib

purposes o social reproduction; and so orth.Clearly, explanations may draw equally on bothhypotheses.

Cosmogony: The PrimordialTimes of Creation

Tere is an enormous diversity in the scenar-ios o creation that indigenous peoples haveelaborated. Sacred stories sometimes arm thedivine origin o the universe as an intention,

a sel-germinating seed, foating in an innitespace o nothingness. Te primordial state obeing undergoes transormations, gradually orabruptly, over multiple epochs. Creation mayunold as the thought, dream, or intentions odivine being(s), who, ater numerous episodes

Fi. 1.14 ia a aa a ma

va Apaa, Papa, n ga.


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Fi. 1.15 Map a .

ALGERIA

ICELAND

DEN.

NETH.

BEL.

FRANCESWITZ.

LEBANONISRAEL

JORDAN

AUS.

ITALYSPAINPORTUGAL

L.

UNITEDKINGDOM

IRELAND

MOROCCO

MAURITANIA

WESTERNSAHARA

CAMEROON

SAO TOME & PRINCIPE

GHANA

BENIN

TOGO

SENEGAL

GAMBIA

GUINEA-BISSAU

SIERRA LEONE

LIBERIA

IVORY COAST

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

GABON

CONGOZAMBIA

NAMIBIA

CONGO(ZAIRE)

ANGOLA

SOUTHAFRICA

MALI

BURK.

NIGERCHAD

CENT.AF. REP.

SUDAN

ETHIOPIA

LIBYAEGYPT

TUNISIA

NIGERIA

MOZAMBIQUE

MALAWI

RWANDA

KENYA

UGANDA

YEMEN

OMAN

DJIBOUTI

ERITREA

SOMALIA

BURUNDI

MADAGASCAR

TANZANIA

ZIMBABWE

BOTSWANA

N

O

R

WA

Y

S

W

E

D

E

N

F

IN

L

AN

D

GER.POL.

HUN.

TURKEY

SYRIA

GEO.AZER.

ARM.

IRAQ IRAN

KAZAKHSTAN

AFGHAN.

I NDI A

NEPALBHU.

MONGOLIA

N.KOREA

S.KOREA JAPAN

A U S T R A L I A

TAIWAN

PAPNEW

CAMBODIA

SINGAPORE

MALAYSIA

EAST TIMOR

I N D O N E S I A

C H I N A

B.DESH

SAUDIARABIA

R U S S I A

CZECH.SLOV.

MOLDAVIA

UKRAINE

BELORUSSIA

LAOSV

IETNAM

THAILAND

BURMA

TURKM

EN

UZBEK.

PAKI

STAN

A T L A N T I C

O C E A N

I N D I A N

O C E A N


17/30

C A N A D A

MEXICO

GUATEMALA

NICARAGUA

HONDURASGUYANASURINAMFRENCH GUIANA

VENEZUELA

B R A Z I L

BOLIVIA

PARAGUAY

URUGUAY

AR

GENTINA

C

H

IL

E

COLOMBIA

PERU

BELIZE

COSTA RICA

PANAMA

ECUADOR

UNITED STATES

OF AMERICA

G R E E N L A N D

(to Denmark)

A

NEWZEALAND

A T L A N T I C

O C E A N

P A C I F I C

O C E A N

N

0

0

1200 miles

1800 kms


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religionso

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this orderly transmission, the original order hasbeen subject to all manner o disorganization,departure rom the original norms, and sense-less violence. Harmony versus disharmony, andpredation versus reciprocal relations are theelements o eternal struggles in which humans

seek to maintain not only order, beauty, andharmony but also the means or controllingabuses o power, in whatever orm they take.

For many native peoples, creation is not aclosed circle in which what happened in theprimordial times will last or eternity, or otenthe stories leave the question unansweredo whether the creator ever really went awayorever or still lives somewhere in the pres-ent world. Also, divine order may occasionally

intervene in history when conditions call orit, through prophets whose messages, receivedrom their deities, warn not only o comingdangers or oer a utopia where there will beno more sickness or suering but also givecounsel, preparing the souls o their ollowersto always remain watchul and aithul to theold ways.

Cosmology: Space, Time,and the Orderly Structuresof the Universe

Tere are two main orientations o spatialstructure: horizontal and vertical. Neither con-sists o continuous, straight-line arrangementso dierent worlds o spirit beings and deities.Te complex constructions o indigenous cos-

mologies and the plethora o values associatedwith the dierent parts o the cosmos permit usto make only a ew broad generalizations. Usu-ally, native peoples think o each o the multipleworlds in the universe as relatively fat planes,circular and bounded by water. Some traditions

undierentiated, simultaneous, when the ormso things had not become xed. Either a sin-gle creator being or a group o creators livedin a perilous world in which humans, animals,and spirits warred among themselves, com-mitted errors that would later become part othe human condition, sought to create orderdespite the perennial existence o anti-orderthat destroyed what was created, and so on.

Another phase in the history o creation

introduced into the world the essential meansor biological and cultural transmissionnamely, sacred plants, sacred sounds and musi-cal instruments, and sacred rituals, leaving theseor all uture generations. Although humanitywas given the responsibility or maintaining

Fi. 1.16 ta ma m n caa,

oaa, 1846.


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the dead into animals who return to earth anprovide ood or their descendants and amiin times o need.

Te middle world, the center o the universis the place where all lie-orms as we knothem, began, including human lie. ropica

orest peoples imagine the earthly plane as thconcentric rings o a tree, considering the innemost circle o the earthly plane the most ancienwhere the true people live while the outer rinrepresent dierent moments in time, associatewith dierent places and other peoples thhave experienced or become aware o; the ouermost layer, the bark o the tree, is the bordbetween one peoples universe and anotherDierent kinds o space and places o being

the horizontal layers are systematically related one another through the narratives that delineate the extent o each peoples worlds.

Horizontal spaces highlight the center, multiple centers, associated with a wide varieo images (cosmic trees, mountains, wateralladders, vines) symbolizing sources o energy the cosmos. Tese orm part o the larger conception o the universe-as-body, consisting multiple organs and energies that work togethTe peripheries, or spaces on the outer marginoten express in inverted orm (demonic spirienemy others, outsiders) the key values o thcenter. Tese enemy others constantly seek wao penetrating a peoples universe to predate oits ood supply or to realize some other orm exchange. A variety o intermediary elemenopenings, and penetrations connect inner anouter realms in the same way that upper an

lower realms are interrelated. In native SouAmerican cosmologies, the places where sacrebeings rst appeared oten become models innumerable spatial constructs.

Indigenous cosmologies illustrate a remarable quality o fexibility in their constructio

represent islands o earth piled up on top o aprimordial water animal such as the turtle, oth-ers as pieces o rock foating in endless space,yet connected with other worlds by variouskinds o holes and tubes running through theircenters. Horizontal structures include markers

o the main directions (mountains, lakes), aswell as one or more centers, comprising a sacredgeography o important places situated arounda center. Te universe is a series o layers, whichcan be arranged either vertically or horizontally,which are dierent worlds in which dierentkinds o beings live.

Te vertical structures o the universe varywidely in composition, rom simple three-layerarrangements (upper world, middle world,

underworld) to massive, multilayer composi-tions inhabited by a great variety o beings.Tere is a clear correlation between the mul-tilayered-cosmos idea and the structures ospiritual power or knowledge in society, aswell as, homologously, the arrangement o thevital points on a persons body (heart, umbili-cus, crown), which connect the person with thespiritual sources o power and knowledge.

In general, the upper worlds are associ-ated with the creative and lie-renewing orceso light (the sun), lightness, and liquids (rain),with important places where soul transorma-tion takes place, as well as dwellings o theancestors, oten eatured as worlds o order,beauty, and happiness. Tey may be associatedwith the highest deities, the primordial beingswho were responsible or all o creation and itsimperections.

Te underworlds are associated withplaces o darkness, netherworlds o the bodilyremains o the dead, animal souls, and mon-strous, inverted beings who can cause sicknessto humans. Or they consist o worlds where theprogenitors o animals transorm the souls o


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50

Beings and Their Relationships

Tis section discusses the nature o humans andother-than-human beings who populate theworld and with whom native peoples interact.

InterrelationalityWhat constitutes, or indigenous peoples, thesel, the person, categories o person-in-time(ancestors and their descendants)? Te personconsists o several souls, modes o conscious-ness, mental and physical aculties, intention-alities, sentiments, bodies, along with ongoingrelatedness to dierent kinds o beings. Tereligious belies and practices o indigenous

peoples are characterized by a conviction thatspirit moves through all things, animate andinanimate, subjects and objects, and that theliving are intimately connected with the soulso their deceased ancestors.

Te universe is most denitely not ahuman-centered place to live but consists omultiple types o beings, each in its own spaces,each having distinct points o view, attributes,physical and spiritual characteristics. Each kindo being is related to most others through cul-turally dened types o relationsor example,predator/prey, ally/enemy, master/pet, owner/owned, parent/children, in-laws, and so on.

Te elaborate structures o space and timethat order the universe,coupled with the re-quent belies in multiple souls and a rich sym-bolism o the human body, integrate humanityinto the cosmic system through which lie

unolds. Humans relationships to the divineare oten mediated by priests, shamans, divin-ers, religious artists, and other specialists. Teseinteractions take the orm o worship, prayers othanksgiving, and supplication, sacrice, mys-tical union with divinities, ritual combat with

Far rom being xed and static things outthere or models o how the universe is struc-tured, cosmologies are better described interms o their plasticity, their capacities toexpand and contract, their permeability (that is,their openness to the external world). Mythic

narratives o the creation oten display this ea-ture o expanding and contracting worlds tomark major moments o transition and growthrom one state o being to another. Te reli-gious specialists are the guardians, as well asthe artisans o the cosmos, or they interpretevents and occurrences in relation to possibili-ties o cosmic change.

Te creation stories oten provide a culturalcartography o the territorial conceptions o

indigenous peoples. As one ethnographer notes,Virtually every landmark in the orest or alongthe river has some signicance in the myths oorigin o one group or another. Tese symbolicconceptions o space have persisted despitesubstantial changes in social organization andeconomic and political lie. Tey are integralto the cultural identity, health, and continuityo indigenous peoples. Along with indigenousenvironmental and land-use knowledge, theseconceptions o identity are undamental to thedetermination o land-tenure policies and thedelineation o indigenous territories in modernpeoples attempts to have a positive eect uponthe conservation o ecosystems. o incorporateindigenous environmental knowledge, land-use practices, and conceptions o sacred spaceinto an indigenous territorial model entailscombining detailed ethnographic, historical,

and ecological knowledge. Linking these cul-tural conceptions with political, economic, andreligious considerations provides an integratedapproach to the conservation o ecosystems andis more in keeping with the land-extensive sub-sistence practices o indigenous societies.


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lie-principle o the person. All throughoones lie, the person must struggle to maintathe strength o the spiritual name-soul over thphysical appetites and desires or emotions the animal soul. One does this by singing thbeautiul words that come in inspiration ro

the ancestors.Multiple souls gained throughout a li

time constitute the person and his or her connections with other beings (e.g., companiospirits). Each o these souls leaves the body the moment o death and returns to the plain the cosmos rom which it originally camDream-souls and dream interpretation are paticularly important in identiying the souls other peoples, enemies, and sorcerers. Son

imageryin naming ceremonies, sacred musand song, drumming, sacred futes and trumpetsis undamental to the production o th

spirits, or the celebration o divinely institutedestivals, preerably as nearly as possible to theway they were done in the beginning.

Bodies and Souls

L. Sullivan2

has distinguished two systematictendencies with regard to belies regarding thesoul in South America but that may apply toother areas o the globe as well: (1) Tere is aphysiological element, which arms that thesoul is situated in specic body parts, cotermi-nous with the unctioning o the bodily organsand dened by animal appetites (ood, sex).Oten, such souls extend to animals who arethe doubles o their counterpart human soul-

elements. (2) Tere is also an epistemologicalelement, in which spiritual elements are asso-ciated with specic human aculties (thought,memory). Here, the human being is armedas a sel-contained and autonomous being setapart rom the object o its perceptions. Teseare broad categories that are not necessarilyseparable but rather maniest themselves insynaesthetically intertwined images o beautyand sensual delight, or ear o unknown powers.

In some cultures, the most important o thesouls are linked in a network extending backto the primordial times; in others, the strongerattachment o the soul may be with ceremonialgroups based on names, residence, or types oritual perormance.

Among the Guarani peoples o SouthAmerica, there are two kinds o souls: one islinked to the animal appetites o the per-

son, while the otherconsidered to be moreimportant because it comes rom the ances-torsis the name-soul, which is bestowed onthe child by a shaman shortly ater the childsbirth. Te name-soul is the reincarnation o theancestor into lie; the name-soul is the sacred

Fi. 1.17 Qam, tpama c, x

y ce.


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religionso

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52

among the Maori peoples o New Zealand orthe Marquesas Islanders.

Being a member o a community impliesconsubstantiality, that is, the sharing o bodyfuids as in sexual relations, or spiritual connec-tions to ancestors such as a collective umbili-cal cordsoul, or even a collective body-soul,common to members o the same social group,(nuclear or extended amilies, siblings, clans).

Body painting is intimately connected withnotions o sel and other and can thus be linked

to historical contactor example, a change indiet regime, or ood taboos, or conversion toChristianity bring about undamental changesin notions o corporality (oten in a negativesense), sicknesses such as obesity, diabetes car-ies, and a host o other irregularities.

person. A rich symbolism o corporality is con-nected to the notion o the person. Troughthis symbolism, indigenous cultures expressundamental values dening spaces constitutiveo human lie.

Among the meanings attributed to the

notion o transormation in indigenousbelie and practice is that human bodies andselves are complex and socially constructed.raditionally, this has been expressed throughbody ornaments, masks, coverings or cloth-ing, mantles o jaguar pelts, bird eathers, bearrobes, loincloths, body painting, tattooing, andhairstyles. Tese kinds o clothing, adorn-ments, and alterations are oten understoodboth as ways o domesticating an animal

interior, essential to the socialization o culturalbeings, while highlighting a specic cognitive,spiritual quality or power that the person hasgained through lie passages. Tese externalmaniestations mediate between the interiorsel, society, and the cosmos. In rites o passage(birth, initiation, and death), persons acquirecognitive and emotional qualities, which con-stitute them as persons.

Te body is also the locus o moral issuesthat are undamental to becoming ully human.In many cultures, control over body oricesby asting, or exampleis the mark o a ullycultural human being, while transgressions oboundaries between beings that ought to bemaintained separate provoke catastrophic trans-ormations; this is perhaps the most importantknowledge that initiates acquire when they areexposed or the rst time to the sacred.

A beautiully decorated body is one thatis ully ornamented, with earrings, beadwork,kneebands, eatherwork, elaborate hairstyles.Body painting or tattoos, representing a vari-ety o metaphysical and moral properties, areetched in exquisitely symmetrical patterns, as

Fi. 1.18 tm a ia (t) av,

wa, Aaka.


23/30

symbols o religious culture, expressing changsocial and cultural reproduction over time, anthe very acts o creation.

Religious specialists

Shamans, priests, diviners, ceremonial dancesorcerers, artisans, and prophets are responsible or managing these interrelations, intepreting the realities o the external worlds other peoples, spirits, enemies to people their own society, coordinating ritual relationamong spirits and humans, ensuring that thmost undamental principles o the univerare observed, acting as the guardians o moraity, holding at bay possible attacks rom spir

beings, determining whether the newly arriveEuropeans were human, and so on. Religiospecialists dier ontologically rom normabeings o a species. (Animals and plants mhave their shamans or medicine people too.)

Generally speaking, whereas the shamaderive their power rom direct knowledge anexperience o the deities and places o the comos, the priests or holy persons power is baseon the accurate recall o canonical and esoter

knowledge, which is essential or rites o pasagethat is, or the reproduction o society, threnewal o the world, and the ontological catgories that dene the nature o being. While thshamans are relatively more egalitarian or democratic in their internal organizationthat anyone can become a shaman who accepts thyears o arduous training and perilous experencesthe priests come rom a specic lineag

or class chosen at birth and are trained throughout their lives. Priestlyfunctions, it should bnoted, such as chanting at passage rites, may albe exercised by the elderly men or women o thsociety without there being a recognized clao priests with political and religious unctions

Ancestors and descendantsTe importance o bonds that tie the ances-tors deeds to their living human descendantsare ound throughout the indigenous world: inNorth America, there is the emphasis on theimportance o a persons acts having repercus-

sions or the seventh generation. In SouthAmerica, or the peoples o the NorthwestAmazon, the deities created a world or theirdescendants, a bond that ties the ancestorsdeeds (whether these were errors or gits) to liv-ing and uture humans, who must abide by thatorder and are responsible or reproducing thatorder, until another end-o-the-world. Simi-larly, the concept o a continuing relationshipo mutual dependence between the living andtheir ancestors is central to Mapuche (Chile)religion and the moral order o their society.Among the Guarani Indians o the southernCone o South America, cults to the bones oancestral holy people (karai, big men) havebeen well documented. In Arica, Siberia, andelsewhere, amilies maintain ancestral shrineswith the assistance o local shamans. In Austra-lia, as in Arica, Amazonia, and highland South

America, the physical landscape is seen as asacred geography, where portals to the sacredare ound everywhere in the traces and markslet by the ancestors or their descendants toremember their deeds and as guides or theuture.

Ritual lifeRituals are highlighted by easts held at impor-

tant moments o the agricultural cycle, or bythe spectacular rites o passage or momentso birth, initiation, and death throughout theindigenous world. Tese renew the links ohumanity with primordial creative powers.Ritual music, songs, and chants are the great


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to the mystery and power o death as an inte-gral part o human existence. For many cultures,the condition o mortality implies a transitory,ephemeral lie, one o constant metamorphoses.Sacred stories oten explain that death enteredthe world in the context o a trialthe ailure

to pass a test or to undergo an ordeal, makinga atal choice, or giving an inopportune signal.Te rituals associated with death are amongthe most elaborate o all processes o passage,occupying a critical theme in all native tradi-tions. Tese involve processes o administeringthe passage o the deceased between existencein this world and incorporation into the other,processes o healing the sentiments o kinwhom the deceased have let behind.

Anthropophagy, or example, was oncea practice among various peoples o lowlandSouth America, o Papua New Guinea andother areas o the world. It generally took twoorms: the consumption o the fesh remainsor the ashes o a cremated kinsperson or theconsumption o the fesh o the enemy killedin war. Te rst practice has been shown to bemore related to assuaging the intense suering,or consuming grie,4 at the moment o loss oclose kin.

Among the hill-dwelling indigenous peo-ples o the northern Philippines, the practice otaking heads was not only a demonstration o ayoung mans becoming a warrior, but it was alsoa way o casting away the burden o grie at theloss o kin because o euds and raiding, and inthat sense it can be considered a piacular rite.5For the upian-speaking peoples o the Atlan-

tic coastal region o South America, the elabo-rate rituals related to warare, taking captives,sacricing the captives, and eating the fesh oones enemy represented a critical transitionthat had as much to do with vengeance as theydid with reproducing the social oundations o

raditionally, priestly societies are organizedinto hierarchies and sacred societies, linked to thedistinct unctions priests may perorm. Whilethe shamans infuence and prestige depends onhis or her perormance and capacity to retain alocal clientele, the priests infuence extends over

large networks o communities who depend onthem or their knowledge and power. At initia-tion rites, postbirth and postdeath rites, a newgroup o adults, or a natal amily, or the inte-gration o the deceased into the communitieso ancestral souls, all imply shits in the com-position o the entire society to a new situation.In some societies such as in ancient Mongolia,priests could at the same time be shamans aswell as diviners and political leaders.3

EschatologyA nal important dimension o religious liein indigenous traditions is eschatology, whichreers to views o the end o times, whetherthat be the death o a specic individual or thedemise o the cosmos itsel. At the death oan individual, all o the components, spiritualand material, that have been bestowed on that

person during his or her lietime may becomereintegrated into ongoing cosmic processes.Te aterlie o an individual is imagined in awide range o potential orms, sometimes as aprocess o alienation rom the world o the liv-ing and enclosure in a separate existence with-out meaningul interactions, and other times asreincarnation in some other orm, or an ongo-ing communication between the living and the

dead. Eschatology also reers to the broadercosmic sense o the end-times as the end othe world, the destruction and regeneration othe universe in general.

As we have seen above, indigenous tradi-tions generally attribute enormous importance


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to honor the dead, the most important chieand aristocracy o the tribes.

In the Americas and other areas o thglobe, it is common to nd the theme o immotality in myth as a condition that existed in thprimordial world: at the moment o death, th

person would be secluded or a period o timat the end o which he or she would reemergrejuvenated. Tis cycle o eternal return winterrupted by the error o a person, and so motality was introduced into the world. Shamanand prophets, however, are believed to nevdie and continue to give counsel to their livinkin at their burial places. In this, we see direlinks between notions o immortality amonnative peoples o the highlands and lowlands

South America.In numerous eschatologies, the entrance

the soul o the deceased into the other woris conditioned on his or her moral behavior and virtues in this lie: those who kill, example, do not succeed in completing thway o the dead souls, alling into an abyss being attacked by swarms o bees (as amonthe Makiritare o the Orinoco region o SoutAmerica). Te notions dierent peoples haabout lie ater death vary a great deal, romcompletely other existence, an inverted imago this world, to the transormation o th

time and memory. Shamanic vengeance andwarare were other means or retribution at the

loss o kin and the grie death brings.Spectacular solutions to the dilemma o

what to do with the deceased o the nobleclasses in more complex indigenous societiescan be seen in the mummication practices othe Inca. All eorts seemed to deny that deathhad taken the deceased royalty away; rather, theroyal deceased continued to hold a privilegedposition socially, ritually, and politically in their

society long ater being placed in tombs, wherespecially designated persons gave them oodand drink and cared or them. In societies suchas those o the Xingu region o central Brazil,the Kwarupceremony is regularly held as a pan-tribal occasion, lasting several weeks, explicitly

Fi. 1.19 ia , a

ea Mm, b, gmay.

Fi. 1.20 Pyp a ak o

rv a caaa, Vza.


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and put it all over the little ball. He madethat stone ball become the earth.

Te name o the Universe child was Hek-wapi ienipe.

He made the Sun rise up then above thenew earth, above the hole in the earth

called Hipana,the navel o the Universe.Te Universe-child was all alone, so he

went to look or people.He went to the Universe-navel at Hipana,

the navel o the sky.He heard people coming out o the hole,

singing their names as they came.Tey came out one ater another, and he

sent each one to their piece o the earth.Ten he looked or night, he obtained

night which was inside a little, tightly-sealed basket.

On receiving the basket o night, its spirit-owner instructed him to open it onlywhen he reached home.

On his way back home, he marveled at itsweight and opened the basket up just alittle bit,

Ten darkness burst out, covering theworld with the rst night,and the sun ell out the western door.

Te Universe-child waited or the sun toreturn,

He and the birds waited or it to return.When they saw the sun entering the sky

vault at the eastern door, the birds beganto sing

For it was the beginning o a new day.

Te Universe child embodies the idea osel-generation. How did it come into being?Tere is no answer; it always was, along with thelittle stone ball, and the vast emptiness aroundit. In one sense, the Universe child means theuniverse aschild, which throws a new light on

deceased into the gods ater being devoured bythem, or the transmigration o the souls o thedeceased into species o game animal that mayserve the living as ood in times o need.

Eschatologies not only reer to the end-times but also to the possibility o a uture

regeneration, ater the destruction o this world.Te cosmogonies o many indigenous cul-tures throughout the world contain the seedso regenerative hope, and thereore we shouldnot consider the movements associated withthem as the exclusive result o external pres-sures, as they many times have been, but ratheras pondered and divinely guided solutions ordilemmas and processes internal to the nativecosmogonies themselves. In all cases, proph-

etsemissaries o the deitieshave acted asinterpreters o the signs o the times, oreseeingthe violent destruction as a necessary conditionor the regeneration o the world.

Creating the World and the Day:A Baniwa Account from theNorthwest Amazon

Te ollowing selection is the rst episode othe creation story o the Baniwa Indians o theNorthwest Amazon region in Brazil (taped in1998, rom the oldest living shaman then alive)and is ollowed by an interpretation o the story.

In the beginning there was only a littlestone ball called Hekwapi

Nothing else around. A vast expanse o

nothing around the little ball.Tere was no land, no people, just the littleball o stone.

So the [Creator] child o the Universelooked or earth. He sent the great doveTsutsuwato nd earth or him,


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grounded in the concept o descent, here the male line, as the central axis that generatall lie. Tat axis, according to the traditionbecame embodied in the child o the sun deitwho introduced the rst rites o initiation humanity. Trough the powerul sounds mad

by this being, the world opened up to its preent size. Tese powerul sounds are engraved othe boulders o the sacred rapids, as an everlasing reminder o origin.

Indigenous religious traditions, as we haseen in this chapter, ocus on many o the samissues and concerns that we see in all othreligious traditions. Te complementarity oppositesor example, good and evil, daand light, shaman and sorcererhowever,

not understood in the same senses as in Chritianity or Zoroastrianism. Indigenous religiotraditions characteristically embed their metphysical questions in a language and art o thsacred that is embedded in the natural, matrial world in which they live. Tat is, religiou

the nature o the rst being. Te universe wasnot like any human being but rather was morelike an illuminated intention, the great spiritwhose external body shape was the sun, whichlater underwent various bodily transormationsover time. In other words, rather than imagin-

ing the creator deity as a human-like person,it is better to think o a sel-generated andgenerating principle that brings into the lighto day the rst generation o living beings anddistributes them on parcels o land all over theearth, which was at that time still miniature.

Tere is a deep hole located at the place,called Hipana, considered to be the center othe universe, the connection to the other worldthrough a spiritual pathway that only the sha-

mans and dead souls can ollow, the openingthrough which ancestral beings emerged romtheir prior, virtual existence into the rst world.Tis opening is called the Universe Umbili-cus, the primal cord o birth, an idea that iscommonly associated with religious traditions

Fi. 1.21 Pyp

capaa, caqa

caa, Vza.


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nevertheless holds a comorting promise that anew world will come into being i the old oneis destroyed. A cycle, thereore, is not just anendpoint but rather is the beginning o anotherlong cycle o time to come.

Te prophecies in many indigenous reli-

gious traditions have served multiple unctions:to warn non-indigenous societies o naturalcatastrophes due to cosmic imbalance romthe destructiveness and greed o the youngerbrother (as the Kogi Indians o the SierraNevada in Colombia call the white man); or tomaintain the importance o the ancestral tradi-tions, or without these, the enemy culture willcome to dominate, meaning the destruction othe indigenous world; and nally, to critique

the disastrous relations between the indigenouspeoples and the West, because although exog-enous societies conquered the Indians, in theend, the enemy outsiders did not deeat them.

images and metaphysical questions are inter-twined in such a way that the interpreter canunderstand these question through the sym-bolic attributes o material images. Indigenousreligious traditions are notable or the ways inwhich they harmonize their lie cycles with the

rhythms, cycles, and orms in nature. All onature is imbued with the power o the sacred,the divinities who once were living, whose livesand acts are remembered and celebrated at cos-mically signicant celestial moments in time(e.g., the annual appearance o certain constel-lations) and at geographical points o intersec-tion between spirit and matter comprising amap o the world.

While many indigenous religious tradi-

tions exhibit a great concern or the end o longcycles o time, with its correlated ear o thereturn o a long, dark night in which manypeople die, the world in which humans live

Fi. 1.22 Pyp s Ma Pak, Px, Aza.


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study aNd dIscussIoN QuestIoNs

1. i a -a

Ypa, a a m ky ym

a y k y p ky a

a? h av

a a mpa a ppv am? cmpa

Maka v Ypa a

(a m) Aaaka v

a p a x.

wa y av mm? wa a

ky q a a

? wy y k Ypa a

a a a maa pamy

may?

2. d mpa

m a:

ymmy a aymmy, mpmay

pp, py, ama ,

a , ma a p,

v cay, x

.

3. wa a m

pp a a

y a? ha maaa a a

pp a? i

a ay av -

pa a

pa? h a

apppa av y y

av pp mv?

Key terms

Afa a

Amm

Apapaaa

Aaa aa amm

caa k

cmy

cmy

d Kaaa mak

eay

gaa y iaay

Ppvm

Pp V

Ppm

r pa

s a

w t l

YAJ

Ypa a

For Further readINg

caa, dav. Religions of Mesoamerica:

Cosmovision and Ceremonial Centers. Pp

h, il: wava, 1998.

ck, b. Consuming Grief. A: uvy

txa, 2002.

dla, V, J. The World We Used to Live In.

g, co: m, 2006.

opa, Ja, . Beyond Primitivism. n Yk:

r, 2007.

Pk, Ja, a My hpp, . Northern

Religions and Shamanism. ea aa 3.

bap: Akama Ka, 1992.

r, J. Becoming Sinners: Christianity and

Moral Torment in a Papua New Guinea Society.

bky: uvy caa P, 2004.

ra, ra. Ilongot Headhunting.A Study

in Society and History 18831974. sa:

sa uvy P, 1980.

sva, l. e. Icanchus Drum: An Orientation to

Meaning in South American Religions. n Yk:

Mama, 1988.


30/30

religionso

ftheworld

60

. The Religious Spirit of the Navajo.

Papa: ca h, 2002.

K. t. A rvva Ma samam.

Shamanism Annual, 24, dm 2011,

310.

wama, nj, a J Pak. gaza:A Ppv m Aa ip

c.Journal of African Instituted Church

Theology11, . 1 (spm 2006).

w, r M. Cosmos, Self and History in Baniwa

Religion: For Those Unborn. A: uvy

txa P, 1998.

. Mysteries of the Jaguar Shamans: Ancient

Knowledge of the Baniwa Maliiri. omaa:

uvy naka P, m.

w, r M., a n l.wa, . InDarkness and Secrecy: The Anthropology of

Assault Sorcery and Witchcraft in Amazonia.

dam: dk uvy P, 2004.

suggested WeBsItes

.ayaymak.m

p://.avp./aa/

pay/

p://a.ava./pa/a_

.aa./----v/

p://aka./a/

p://..///rl/00574

Notes

1. p://..///rl/00574

2. sva, 1988, ap. 5

3. K. t, Shamanism Annual, 2011.

4. ck, 2002.5. ra, 1980.

Documents

Wr Chapter 1